Freya James, eight, who died after bumping into another child at school and suffering internal bleeding

An eight-year-old girl who died after a playground game of British Bulldog had such a ‘massive’ liver rupture it was as if she had been punched by a boxer, an inquest heard today.

Freya James suffered a four-and-a-half inch tear to her vital organ after she was hit by a boy playing the traditional game and fell on an ornamental playground feature made from a recycled railway sleeper, an inquest into her death heard.

A pathologist told a jury at West London Coroner's Court that Freya, a pupil at Trafalgrar Junior School in Twickenham, south west London, died of internal bleeding caused by the huge tear on her liver.

Freya was playing a different game during her lunch break when she was hit by the boy playing British Bulldog on Valentine's Day this year.

Despite her serious injury, the schoolgirl had to walk between five and 10 metres to a first aid room.

Paramedics arrived at the school within 15 minutes, but Freya died in hospital two hours later without her family having the chance to say goodbye.

A post-mortem found Freya’s injury was consistent with ‘blunt force trauma.’As a result she suffered a ‘large liver laceration which caused massive internal bleeding,’ the jury at West London Coroner’s Court heard.

Pathologist Dr Andreas Marnerides said after the collision with the 11-year-old boy on Valentine’s Day this year Freya would have deteriorated ‘within minutes.’

Jurors heard her eyes began to open and close, her limbs started to stiffen and she turned pale and clammy.

Asked if it would have been obvious she was seriously injured, Dr Marnerides said: 'It would have been clear to a trained paramedic or at least highly suspicious that there was something seriously wrong.'

The inquest heard the boy was running at a speed of ‘eight out of 10’ when he crashed into her and had to swerve to avoid another boy moments before.

Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield said that at the time he was playing the rough tag-based game Bulldog, while Freya was playing another running game called Jails, where players pretend to be policeman and catch burglars.

He said: 'At about 1.15pm, there was a collision between a boy who was playing Bulldog, and Freya.They were in different years, and may well not even have known each other to talk to.

School: Freya was playing in the playground at Trafalgar Junior School in Twickenham when she was injured

'As a result, she fell, and in falling struck one of the sleepers that was in the playground.'

When asked if the injury could have been caused by the boy himself rather than the sleeper, the pathologist replied: 'No.The kind of trauma I saw here required a very high impact, like a boxer throwing a punch.'

Dr Marnerides, of St Thomas' Hospital in south London, who carried out the post-mortem, was also asked if Freya would have suffered the same injury if she had just fallen on the playground.

He said: 'If the velocity was the same but the surface was different the impact would have been different.'

Asked if such incidents were common
in playgrounds, he said: 'I’m not aware of the exact statistical
numbers, but I’ve seen it before.'

The jury at West London Coroner's Court heard that Freya died before her parents could say goodbye to her

The inquest heard that a teaching assistant noticed Freya sitting
on the floor surrounded by other girls. She approached her and Freya told her she 'hurt her tummy', the coroner said.

Teaching assistant Caroline Seabrook said it was not apparent that day that Bulldog was being played.

Asked if it had been identified as an inappropriate game, she said: 'I don't really know.'

She added: 'When very large groups of children charge across the playground, that's when we intervene.'

Ms Seabrook told the jury that the boy had come up to her and told her he had 'accidentally banged into her'.

She said she took Freya to a classroom where another woman, Annabelle Hogg, helped her. Ms Seabrook said Freya was sick and looked as if she was about to pass out.

The women tipped Freya's chair back to raise her feet higher, but said her 'legs failed'.

'I was holding her hand and stroking her head. She wasn't talking but she would look at us, she was going in and out of consciousness.'

- teaching assistant Caroline Seabrook

She said: 'I ran to the office to get them to call an ambulance, and ran back again, and Mrs Hogg had put her in the recovery position. I was holding her hand and stroking her head.

'She wasn't talking, but she would look at us, she was going in and out of consciousness.'

Detective Inspector Andrew Dunn told the inquest that the boy who ran into Freya had been open in his answers to police after the accident.

He said: 'I have found no sign of malice or criminal intent, and haven't submitted a file to the Crown Prosection Service.'

The inquest heard that the first paramedic arrived at 1.30pm, and an ambulance 10 minutes later. Oxygen was given and she left in the ambulance at 1.50pm, arriving at West Middlesex Hospital at 2pm.

However despite intense efforts to save the little girl's life, she died just before 4pm that afternoon, before her parents were able to reach her bedside.

The conclusion of the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem on Freya was that she died as a result of internal bleeding from the liver laceration.

Since her death, Freya’s parents Nick and Anekke James, from Twickenham, have called for a nationwide ban on British Bulldog in playgrounds.

Mr James, 42, said : ‘I hope our daughter’s death will lead to a more widespread ban.’